It Feels Best Only With You
by Gwynhafra
Summary: In Iwatobi, people are either Suppliers or Receivers who are put together in a pair as Partners. A Receiver must draw energy from a Supplier to survive. Similarly, a Supplier must share the energy produced and stored in his or her own body with a Receiver. The only way to do so is through kissing. Makoto and Haruka are Partners who keep each other alive. Literally. [MakoHaru]


**Disclaimer: I do not own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club or any of its characters, nor do I own Shinkuu Yuusetsu. I do own my disobedient muse though.**

**Warning: Shonen-ai fic. Misleading scenes (unless you've read Shinkuu Yuusetsu and you know the concept behind it). Some scenes are modified to fit this fic.**

**Pairings: Tachibana Makoto X Nanase Haruka, Rei X Nagisa, Mikoshiba Seijuurou X Matsuoka Gou**

A/N: I seriously want to head desk the minute this particular muse struck me. It won't calm until I write this though, so here we go.

Take note that I had this idea after reading Shinkuu Yuusetsu, so it's best to try to read that manga first before reading this. Also, some lines in this fic may have been deliberately written to be…er…misleading.

To the story then…

**It Feels Best Only With You**

By: Gwynhafra

Chapter 1

It was a calm, clear day for Iwatobi, or at least that was what the weather forecast reported that morning. There was little movement about the small, sleepy town, with the silence broken only by the soft thud of feet against the stone stairs. A kind-eyed brunette hummed to himself as he ascended the stairs, stopping to help an old lady carry her basket of purchases from the market to her house, and also to tickle a tiny, white kitten under the chin before giving it some squid.

He stopped outside his destination, a homely two-storied house, about 10 minutes later. Ringing the doorbell, he adjusted the strap of his schoolbag and waited. At receiving no response, he gave a sigh and opened the door, stepping into the house with a familiarity to the place like he stayed here too.

He crossed the living room, the kitchen and entered a bathroom before glancing at a basket, which had clothes lying there in a messy pile from being stripped out of quickly. Giving another sigh, he opened the door to the bath after giving the occupant in it a heads up.

A dark-haired teenager lifted his head out of the water at that. He shook his head, causing water droplets to splash around. Looking up, he found a large, offered hand before him, as the brunette gave him a warm smile.

"Good morning, Haru-chan." He smiled and tilted his head to the side. Despite having a large, tall build, Tachibana Makoto still had that childlike aura around him whenever he did that. He probably wasn't aware of it, but sometimes that head tilt allowed him to get favours easily, especially from the older folks.

Haru-chan, or more accurately Nanase Haruka, took the hand and allowed himself to be helped out of the bath. "I told you to lay off the –chan." He spoke with a mild degree of irritation. A mutual friend from their old swimming club back in elementary school had started that nickname. The brunette liked it, and had also called him that ever since.

Makoto wasn't fazed in the slightest as Haruka put on an apron, wearing nothing else but his swimsuit. He grimaced slightly at seeing that Haruka was cooking mackerel again, and had toast to go with it. His childhood friend had always had strange tastes. Haruka liked eating mackerel and toast for breakfast, and Makoto wasn't one to stop his habits, as long as it wasn't detrimental to the black-haired boy's health.

Makoto chatted with him all the way to school, though it was more one-sided on Makoto's part as Haruka remained silent, staring out at the ocean. It has been a while since he last swam, and a sort of longing bubbled within him. He really hoped that the ocean became warmer soon, so that he could swim again.

"I hope that it becomes warmer soon, so that you can swim again." Makoto parroted his thoughts aloud. Haruka looked at him, glared, and looked away after asking him to be quiet. He could never hide anything from the brunette, who was so in tune with his thoughts that he could read his mind at one glance. He didn't find it so much as irritating as he found it embarrassing.

At entering the school gates, Makoto greeted some passing friends, while Haruka remained silent since socialising was never quite his strength. The black-haired boy frowned at seeing a couple lock lips on the bench, right smack in the open where people walked about around them. "Haru?" Makoto followed his line of sight and gave a chuckle. "Ah yes, that's right. You've never liked seeing the Transfer done in the open."

"There is a place and time for everything." Was the black-haired's curt answer.

Makoto tilted his head slightly at that. "Speaking of which, is your body all right?" Haruka turned to him, and he elaborated, "Your energy level. It gets uncomfortable in the mornings right? More so after you've had a bath. Do you need me to help you relieve it?"

Haruka was never one to make direct requests, and he turned away with a slight flush on his face. He wasn't embarrassed. Makoto was right when he said that the pent up energy was causing his chest to feel tight, and the increased blood flow in his body tended to colour his face when that happened. "Suits yourself."

That was as close to a request for help as Makoto would get. The brunette looked about. "Ah, let's go behind that building. It's less crowded there." He took Haruka's hand and led the way. Haruka didn't say anything as Makoto took him to one of the less used buildings and backed him against the wall. Haruka leaned against it for support, then watched as Makoto leaned close. "Haru…" It was a request for permission. At receiving no resistance from the smaller male, he closed the distance between them, let his eyes fall shut, and sealed their lips together.

XXXXXX

Iwatobi was a small, fishing town, with a population of about five thousand people or so. There was little activity in the town, but it was a fairly popular tourist attraction, as the town was fairly well-known for freshly caught seafood and sea creature-related festivals, like the Squid Festival and Crab Festival.

Another reason for the tourists hording the place was because Iwatobi had a pretty unique culture. To outsiders, Iwatobi residents were really, really bold, as they could lock lips anytime and anywhere, even during really serious settings like, say, a meeting or a funeral. There was no small amount of culture shock if they left the small town and did their usual practice, and cameras tended to click like crazy as tourists brought home evidence from their Iwatobi trips.

To the residents of sleepy town Iwatobi, however, they weren't being extremely open or bold. Their practice was, to the ignorance of the rest of the world, a necessity for their own survival.

The original residents of Iwatobi had contracted a strange condition from the water in one of their wells, as their people were divided into two main groups. The first group consisted of the Receivers, people whose life energy depleted rapidly on a daily basis. The second group consisted of the Suppliers, people who generated and stored life energy within their bodies. The town's doctors would always pair a member of the first group with a member of the second when children of Iwatobi, who were descendents of the original residents and who have also been cursed with the same condition, were around 4 or 5 years old.

For a Receiver to stay alive, he or she would have to accept life energy from a Supplier. Suppliers were considered to be very valuable in their community, as Receivers outnumber Suppliers three to one. The town's law made it imperative that Suppliers must share their life energy with any Receiver, as that energy could not be created anywhere else except within the Supplier's body. It was impossible for a Receiver to survive without periodically being given energy from a Supplier, and if Suppliers stored up too much energy within their bodies without giving it away, they too would suffer and die.

The exchange of energy from the Supplier to the Receiver was formally known as The Transfer, and the flow of energy moved through the contact of the participants' lips. For a full charge to last the whole day, the Supplier and Receiver had to lock lips for a full 30 seconds, but even that was subjected to whatever activities both parties did within the day. If one or both were highly active, they must do a Transfer multiple times in a day. If the Transfer was done between compatible individuals, the sensation was said to be extremely pleasurable, and valued more highly than even sex.

Most residents were put in pairs, though not always fixed. A Supplier could be compatible with multiple Receivers, but Receivers were normally compatible with only one Supplier. Of course, Receivers could take energy from any Supplier if their life depended on it, but if it wasn't from the one they were most compatible with, there were some side effects, like being unable to do a full charge, or getting rashes all over the body, or having a lingering bad taste in the mouth that days of brushing could not get rid of, to name a few. Also, there was no pleasure between the transfer of energy to incompatible individuals. It was merely to keep both alive, but served nothing more than that.

Their small community of Suppliers and Receivers was considered to be a rarity to the rest of the population in the world, and even then, there were rarities among their community. The first kind of rarity was the Independents, a person born from the union of a resident of Iwatobi and an outsider. The latest recorded Independent was Matsuoka Rin, who was neither Supplier nor Receiver, and who could survive perfectly well on his own. The second kind of rarity was the Universal Receiver or Universal Supplier, a person who could do The Transfer with anybody and not have or cause any side effects. Nanase Haruka was the most recently recognised Universal Supplier, much to the anti-social's dismay.

There were yet other rarer incidents than even that. Most children were paired up a boy and a girl, and while same-sex pairings were not unheard of, it had been ages since the last one was recorded. Also, there were pairings who were placed under the Highly Compatible group, ones who didn't just feel extreme pleasure through The Transfer, but who could also read each other's minds. The formal term for the Highly Compatibles was "Life Partners", shortened form for "If You Value Your Life, Be Partners."

Haruka was a Universal Supplier. Makoto was a Receiver. They were one of the few who found each other since young without having to be paired as Partners through the intervention of doctors, and they were also Life Partners.

As grand as their unique situation sounded, it wasn't exactly anything special. It was just a way of life for them. They were each other's life support, and would remain that way until one died, after which the other would shortly follow. They grew up together, they walked together, and they locked lips. There was nothing more to that than routine.

XXXXXX

Haruka sighed, bored as he looked out of the window while Ama-chan, their class teacher continued on with her teaching of literature. He wanted to swim so badly, and even when Makoto requested for him to go for lunch on the roof during break, he turned down the offer because he could not even muster the energy to move from his table.

He remained seated, at least until one of his classmates came running to him to inform him that Makoto had passed out on the roof. Without missing a beat, he got up and made his way there. The classmate narrated to him about what happened before that. Apparently another Supplier, a girl, had tried to ask Makoto out, and when he turned her down, she tried to convince him by doing the Transfer and giving him her energy.

It backfired with a pretty bad side effect, as instead of giving Makoto energy, it sapped out whatever Life Energy Haruka gave him that morning. Other Suppliers tried to come to Makoto's aid, but he steadfastly fought them off, winning simply because of his large build and strength, but was otherwise becoming quite half-dead.

Haruka found Makoto surrounded by a small circle of hopeful Suppliers on the roof. He knelt down and cradled the brunette in his arms. "Oi, Makoto."

The brunette opened his eyes weakly. "Haru…ka…?"

A vein popped on the black-haired man's temple. "I've told you before that if you're low on energy, you should just receive it from other Suppliers. I don't like having to run all the way here every time you collapse. It's troublesome."

Makoto gave a weak smile and chuckle to that. "I'm sorry, Haru."

They locked lips, initiating the Transfer. For other partners 30 seconds was enough, but because of Makoto's size, the two Life Partners had to remain with their lips sealed for at least a minute per session. When they parted, colour came back to Makoto's face, and he sat up, looking healthy again.

Nothing eventful happened after that, causing Haruka to lapse into boredom again. They met up with an old friend, the Supplier Nagisa, and much later another long-lost friend, the Independent Rin.

Rin challenged him to a race, to which Haruka gladly accepted. Their real race was at the swimming pool of another school, Samezuka. Not wanting to burden Makoto's body (because the darn guy collapsed again due to his own stubbornness of not wanting to feel anyone else's lips on him aside from Haruka's), he did not do the transfer before the race. Surely enough, he felt the burning sensation in his chest resulting from his body's overproduction of energy, and he lost the race.

XXXXXX

He reflected on his loss when he was alone at home, and reflected on Makoto's attitude too. When he was 5, he had gone over to Makoto's house to play. At that age, children had yet to be biologically assigned roles as Suppliers or Receivers, and could survive independently. Makoto and him were watching a movie, and when the hero of the show kissed the heroine, the innocent brunette pointed to it and turned to his mother.

"Mama. Are they doing the Transfer?" He asked.

Makoto's parents chuckled at that. "No, dear. That is a kiss. It is only done with the people you really like." Makoto's mom told him.

Makoto's eyes sparkled as he turned to his parents. "Like what you and papa do every day?"

Makoto's parents exchanged looks. Makoto's mom flushed and turned her attention back to washing the plates. Makoto's dad rubbed the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "Makoto, your mom and I lock lips to do the Transfer, and also to kiss. You will understand the difference when you get older."

Makoto turned back to the TV, where the couple was apparently still going about kissing very passionately. He turned to Haruka and, to his parents' surprise, placed his hands on the dark-haired child's shoulders, imitating what he saw on screen.

"So a kiss is done with someone you like. I like Haru-chan. I want to kiss Haru-chan." Makoto chirped. Haruka continued looking at him with calm, blue eyes as the brunette child brought their faces together.

"Wait, Makoto! You shouldn't…" Before Makoto's dad could stop him, the child sealed his lips with the other's.

Something unexpected happened then, as a golden glow surrounded both children with the awakening of shared life energy. The adults could not break them apart, and when they finally tore away from each other, the intensity of the feeling caused them both to gasp for breath, rather like they were holding their breaths underwater for long periods of time, and they both fell back. Makoto's dad quickly caught Makoto, and Makoto's mom caught Haruka. "Wh-what was that?" Makoto asked, sounding a little frightened.

Makoto's dad rubbed his back to soothe him, even as he turned to his wife, who allowed Haruka to cling to her arm as the black-haired child was also a little scared. "That, Makoto…was your first Transfer. You and Haruka-chan are apparently, from the colour of that glow, Life Partners."

The two young friends stared at each other at that, read each other's minds, and calmed down. That was their starting point, and also the beginning of many more of their Transfers to come.

Haruka's parents were dead pissed when they found out, since Makoto's actions caused the loss of independence for both children, as Haruka would forever have to rely on a Receiver for survival from that point onwards. Children in Iwatobi had very limited options after they have found themselves a partner. One option was for them to leave their families and move into the school dorms, where they could spend their time together and of course, have no trouble with charging with each other. Another option was for one half of the partnership to move into the house of the other. Either way, it sounded like the Nanase family was going to lose their son, and no amount of apology from Makoto's parents could separate them anymore though. It was a good thing the Nanase and Tachibana residences were so close to each other though, so the new Partners didn't have to move out specially. If they needed to charge, they just had to go to each other's houses. The other children were paired up by the doctors and initiated their first Transfers long after Makoto and Haruka had dozens of their own. Haruka really didn't think the loss of independence was that big a deal. He liked Makoto well enough, and their Transfers felt really good.

A distinctive difference between a Transfer and a kiss was the pleasure. It was pleasurable to do the Transfer, just like inhaling deeply and letting air fill the lungs after being saved from drowning. A kiss caused pleasure to spread in the body, which may or may not lead to sexual intimacy, but a Transfer caused pleasure to revitalize the body, giving the individual a boost to carry on the rest of the day and basically make them feel…for lack of a better word, alive. It was also the reason why Iwatobi residents valued a Transfer more than they did a kiss.

Also, there was nothing romantic or sexual about a Transfer, even though it shared the same touching of lips as a kiss did. A Receiver or Supplier was not considered to be easy or promiscuous just because the Transfer was done with someone else aside from their own Partner, or even with multiple other people, but of course the same couldn't be said about kisses. More than half of the partners end up getting romantically involved, married, and had kids though, because they were with each other their whole lives that they became immensely comfortable and compatible with each other, like was the case with Makoto's parents. There were also others who were life compatible with their respective Partners, but romantically compatible with other people, like the case with Haruka's Supplier parents, who kissed each other but did the Transfer with their respective Receivers. The Transfer and regular kisses were kept strictly as separate ways of life by all Iwatobi residents.

Well…not all. Some did see them to be synonymous. Makoto was one of them. Being the child of Life Partners who ended up married, he could not see the difference, and refused to do the Transfer with anyone else, partially because anyone else's lips tasted bad to him, and partially because it felt like he was cheating on Haruka. Haruka wasn't particularly against doing the Transfer with anyone else if it was a life or death situation. His antisocial nature just repelled the idea of anyone else touching him. That, and because sharing energy with anyone else tended to leave a foreign energy residue on his lips, and when he went back to locking lips with Makoto, the latter would detect it and grimace quite badly. He hated seeing the look on Makoto's face whenever that happened, so he too made it a practice to do the Transfer with only Makoto (unless the teachers forced him to for the sake of saving someone's life).

Still, he was worried that Makoto was going to get himself killed one of these days. He could not guarantee they could always be together, within reach of each other. He bit his bottom lip as he sank into the water, letting it soothe him. He could still remember back then, shortly before Rin left for Australia and shortly after Rin requested for all of them to join the relay.

Years ago

Rin, Makoto and Haruka were all standing below that cherry blossoms tree in the school's yard. Rin informed them that he was moving away, Haruka demanded to know his real intentions, and Makoto was upset at the idea of losing a friend.

"I will swim in the relay. I'm leaving the day after the tournament, so this will be the last time the four of us swim together." Rin informed them. He turned to Haruka. "Hey, since there are no more chances after this, I've always been wondering, Nanase. The teachers call you a Universal Supplier, and the Receivers who have shared energy with you before described the feeling as being completely different from any of the other Suppliers. I may not be able to receive any energy from you, but I've always wondered what it feels like." Before any of them could react, Rin sealed his lips to Haruka's. He parted a moment later with his eyes gleaming. "Whoa! It felt…really good… So this is what life energy feels like…" He almost got bowled over into the flowerbed when Makoto rushed past him and threw his hands around Haruka, clinging on tightly.

"Haru-chan's my Supplier! I won't share him with Rin!" The brunette child said childishly.

"What's with you? Nanase's got a lot of energy to share anyway. Hey, Nanase. Did it feel good for you too?" Rin asked.

Nanase looked bored. "Not particularly." It was hot, and Makoto hugging him was not helping. Could they all just get into the water already?

XXX

Come to think of it, he should have noticed how possessive Makoto was over his lips since then. The brunette child had cried, and it took Makoto's parents a while to explain to their son that Rin was doing a Transfer and not a kiss, and even then, Makoto clung on to Haruka. "No! I won't do that to anyone but Haru-chan! It's no good if it's not Haru-chan!"

Nothing much changed between them though. He frequently hung out at Makoto's place, had sleepovers, and went almost everywhere with him. It was more convenient for both of them should the need to share energy arise.

The need to do a Transfer increased the day Nagisa suggested for them to start a swimming club. Haruka had always wondered why, but every time he dove into the water, his body would end up overproducing energy, and he needed Makoto's help to relieve the pressure building in his body. The other boy was only too happy to oblige, pressing their lips together in the clubroom since Haruka was a very private person.

A student, Ryuugazaki Rei, moved to their town and transferred to their school shortly after they started the club. He initially joined the Track Team, but joined the Swim Club after seeing Haruka's beautiful swimming. One fine day, he accidentally walked in on Makoto and Haruka doing a Transfer, and gave a loud yelp and backtracked immediately, tripping over his own feet and falling hard on his bottom. Nagisa helped him to his feet, and he spluttered at him.

"Makoto-senpai and Haruka-senpai are ki-ki-kissing! Are they in a relationship? They're both guys!"

Nagisa chuckled at him. "Ah, seeing the culture shock of transfer students never gets old." He explained the mechanics behind the Transfer, and repeated it enough until Rei got over his shock and grasped a bit of the concept behind it.

"So…they're not kissing…but they're exchanging life energy?" Rei asked.

Nagisa nodded. "It's an arrangement for survival. It's not anything romantic. For example, I'm a Supplier. My own Receiver has her own boyfriend, and what she does is her own business. There are times she'd stay over at her boyfriend's place, and whatever they're doing taxes her energy so much that she'd suck almost all of my Life Energy out of me after that. It normally takes about two minutes when that happens, and to you people, it probably looks like a really romantic kiss." He could see Rei's eyebrows furrow as he tried to picture it. "You curious over what a Transfer is like?" Before Rei could stop him, he pressed his lips lightly to Rei's. The blue-haired went stiff from shock, then his eyes widened in surprise, and when Nagisa pulled away, he touched his lips.

"That…that was strange. It felt like a sort of a tingle." Rei said, filing that detail for further reference.

Nagisa nodded. "That's what it's like for those who are neither Receivers nor Suppliers.

Rei crossed his arms. "So basically…Suppliers and Receivers come together for the sake of transferring energy, but they are not necessarily together romantically?"

"Bingo! Looks like you finally get it, Rei-chan. In fact, there are quite a few cases where the Partners are not as nice to each other as compared to their romantic halves. Look at my Receiver…she's really mean to me. She only uses me to recharge then she leaves…and she says I look like a girl… I may not be her romantic interest, but still…"

Rei seemed a bit sympathetic at that. He then looked towards the clubroom. "Then…what about Makoto-senpai and Haruka-senpai? From what I see, Makoto-senpai takes care of Haruka-senpai a lot."

"Hmm…they do share a pretty special relationship, and they've been close since they were young…plus they're Life Partners…" Rei gave another yelp at that, and Nagisa knew that he had taken it the wrong way again and had to explain the whole concept to him. Once Rei stopped making strange squeaks, Nagisa continued on like he hadn't been interrupted. "They're Life Partners, but Haru-chan's real romantic interest is water."

"He has…a romantic interest…towards water…" Rei repeated blankly.

Nagisa nodded. "It's the main reason why his body overproduces energy when he's in water, be it if he's swimming, or if he's soaking in the bath. I suppose it's sexual frustration. Mako-chan frequently has to take in a lot of excess energy, and there were changes to his body too ever since then. They were around the same height when they were young, but over time, he grew much taller than Haru-chan, has a larger build, and develops muscles really easily. It was probably his body's way to store all that overflowing energy."

"I see…and what about Makoto-senpai's romantic interest?" Rei asked.

Nagisa frowned. "Hmm…it's complicated."

"What are you two still doing there?" Makoto's voice made Rei jump. They turned to find Makoto walking towards them, with Haruka walking close beside him. "Come on now, let's practice with the menu Gou made for us."

Rei didn't know where to look as Makoto exchanged stares with Haruka, and worse still when Haruka dove into the water. He didn't know whether he would get over his culture shock first, or if he would learn to swim first. At the rate he was going, probably the latter.

**To be continued…**

A/N: This fic wasn't prewritten, unlike my main one, so updates will be after I finish posting my main Free! ficcie. In the meantime, if you haven't done so yet, do check out Shinkuu Yuusetsu. It's a pretty good manga.

I got the idea of Haru as a Universal Supplier based on the idea that he seems to be…well…a possible half of a pairing with most of the characters in Free! :p

Do point out if I made mistakes in this chapter.

**Please Read and Review. No Flames Please.**

-Gwyn


End file.
